Colts' defensive turnaround quiets critics

INDIANAPOLIS 
Indianapolis' defenders can still hear the echoes ringing from September.

They couldn't stop the run, get off the field or produce turnovers. They were chastised for being too small, too inconsistent and continually heard they were again the Colts' weak link.

All they really needed to fix it was patience.

"It's been kind of tough because as a defense we've had a lot of holes," Dwight Freeney said Wednesday. "We never had a consistent nose tackle, defensive tackle, until like the eighth or ninth game, and then Bob (Sanders) comes back and in and out, and you have other guys go down. ... The last string of games, we've been playing pretty decent."

Actually, they've been pretty darn stout.

After allowing four 100-yard rushers and nearly 200 yards per game in three September contests, the Colts have had only two runners top 100 yards in the last 13 games and given up 3.9 yards per carry.

Since November, opponents are scoring 15.1 points per game; the secondary set an NFL record by allowing the fewest touchdown passes (six) in a 16-game season; and the Colts now head to San Diego with momentum and numbers that make those early-season criticisms look like an aberration.

What changed?

"Just tackling better, communicating better, having a better understanding of the system," defensive end Raheem Brock said. "Then everyone is able (to) play more relaxed and have fun, and that's what we've been doing. We've jelled."

It wasn't supposed to be this tough for the Colts (12-4) in 2008.

They allowed the league's fewest points in 2007, and for the first time in coach Tony Dungy's seven seasons with the Colts, he had all 11 defensive starters back.

By training camp, the plan was already being amended.

Freeney, who had foot surgery late last season, and 2007 Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders (shoulder) opened camp on the physically unable to perform list. Outside linebacker Tyjuan Hagler tore a pectoral muscle while weightlifting in July and didn't play until mid-October.

When the season started, things got worse.

On Sept. 10, defensive tackle Ed Johnson, the Colts' run-stuffer, was waived after being arrested on a drug charge. Four days after that, Sanders went down with ankle and knee injuries in the Minnesota game, and three weeks later, cornerback Kelvin Hayden injured his knee when he stepped in a hole at Houston.

Marlin Jackson, the Colts' other starting cornerback, sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice on Oct. 30, and linebacker Gary Brackett, the defensive captain, broke a bone in his lower right leg a month later.

So it took a while to sort out things.

"I think it was an adjustment," Brackett said. "We played some good backs (the first three weeks), too, but I think it was more us. These guys really started to get it about the middle of the year, and we've not looked back."

Indy also relied on some unlikely contributors.

Cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, cut twice by the Colts this season, returned an interception for the decisive touchdown against Jacksonville. Defensive tackle Antonio Johnson, signed off Tennessee's practice squad in early November, solidified the middle and earned the starting job. Clint Session, Hagler's replacement, emerged as a playmaker after some early mistakes and finished with 99 tackles.